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The pregnancy timetable tells all – women need to protect their future fertility now more than ever. A new generation of professional women are realizing that placing motherhood on the backburner to pursue their education and career may not be in their best interest.

While the best time to start having children is around the age of 25, it also happens to be the best time for women to climb the corporate ladder or further their education in fields like law or medicine, says Stephanie Caballero, Esq., founder of The Surrogacy Law Center,.

Caballero tells women who want to postpone motherhood to freeze their eggs.

“It’s not a guarantee, and it’s expensive because you have to go through the medical procedure, and you have to take hormones,” she said. “It’s going to cost you about $10,000.”

An amount like this can be jaw-dropping especially if college loans are mounting. It’s a hefty price tag for a woman in her twenties – but the alternative is possibly facing infertility when she’s ready to start a family.

“Again, it may not work. The success rates with frozen eggs are lower that what the industry would like, but at least you’ve got something to bank on,” she said.

Women wanting children should also take on a healthy lifestyle to help promote their future fertility.

“Don’t smoke, maintain a healthy weight, exercise, eat well, sleep well, and use a condom because sexually transmitted diseases can kill your fertility,” Caballero said.

While preserving fertility is necessary, Caballero also noted how redefining motherhood in the business world is way overdue. An example she used was Licia Ronzulli, a member of the European Parliament, whose baby nestled in her sling while she was at work.

“She took her baby with her and was breastfeeding – it’s about time that women make a change,” Caballero said. “So, we need to start fighting for these rights especially during the first year of a child’s life.”

Caballero hopes that one day women aren’t forced to wait to have a baby at a more professionally convenient time or move heaven and earth to scrape up the money to freeze their eggs.

“The goal is to have children at the best time and still have a career. That would be ideal, and that’s something that we need to work towards,” Caballero said.